As an athlete at Fenton in the early 1990s, the former Lisa Hillman was part of one of the great traditions in area history -- Fenton softball.

The All-State pitcher helped the Tigers reach the Class B state championship game in 1993.

Taylor took over Clio's program in 2007 and in only her second season she is laying the foundation for a tradition at One Mustang Drive.

Clio scored three unearned runs in the final three innings Tuesday -- two in the top of the seventh -- to post a 3-1 victory at Owosso in a Division 2 pre-district game.

"I'm excited for this program," Taylor said. "I didn't want a good year, I want to build a tradition. This isn't for the here and now. This is for the years to come."

The Mustangs have made a complete turnaround since Taylor came on board. During her inaugural season, Clio went 12-27 overall and 5-11 in the Metro League.

The Mustangs tied for second place in the Metro this spring with a 13-3 mark, and after Tuesday's victory they improved to 28-9 overall.

What makes Clio's season even more surprising is they do not have a senior in their starting lineup.

The Mustangs' top nine includes four juniors, three sophomores and two freshman.

"We are way ahead of schedule," Clio junior pitcher Stevie Cuttitta said. "Dedication to our program and our coaching, wow. We do a really good job of keeping everything together and being a team."

Tuesday, Clio appeared to be an underdog against an Owosso squad that not only had seven seniors in its lineup, but won its first league championship in school history.

The game amounted to a pitcher's dual between Owosso senior Kelsey Jo Ritter and Cuttitta.

The two hurlers went the distance, allowing a combined seven hits and fanning 15.

The older Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Amber Secor scored on an error.

Clio, which had only two hits, tied the game at 1-1 in top of the fifth when Jenna Hippensteel scored on a wild pitch.

The Mustangs won the game in the top of the seventh when they scored twice with two-outs.

Cuttitta scored on an RBI-single by Mercedes Kaiser and Stacey VanFleet scored on a throwing error.

"We talked about that and we knew it would," Owosso coach JoEllen Smith said of the game being decided by miscues. "You see the first error and it just snowballed from there. You can't give up four or five outs in an inning."

Ritter tossed a two-hitter, allowing no earned runs and fanning eight for Owosso, which ended 29-6. The 29 wins tied the school single-season record.

Cuttitta threw a five-hitter with seven strikeouts for Clio, which advanced to play at noon Saturday against Mt. Morris in the district semifinals at Owosso.

"My former coach (at Fenton) Dave Lazar always said in softball you have to have a good team and you have to be lucky," Taylor said. "I think we were pretty lucky today."